This invention relates generally to an earth anchor, and more particularly, to an earth anchor in which components comprising a hub body of the anchor are integrally formed to provide more uniform strength and tighter dimensional control.
There are a variety of earth anchors designed for penetration deep into the ground. Examples of these are the earth anchors disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,656 to Farmer, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present application, in addition to the anchor shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,575 to Dziedzic. Typically, an earth anchor is formed by welding various components together to form a hub body, and then welding a blade to the body. Though effective, earth anchors made this way have certain problems. One of these problems, for example, is where the anchor design relies heavily for its integrity on the strength of the various welds. A second problem is the difficultly in being able to consistently form outer hubs on the hub body which are of uniform size, shape, and strength. The variations which result from anchor to anchor can create field use problems. Thirdly, the symmetry between inner and outer portions of the hub body are difficult to control. This is caused by heat distortion from the numerous welds required to make the body and can result in a tool fit which is too tight in some instances or too loose in others. It is considered that an earth anchor whose hub body does not require welding as the primary method of its formulation would not have these problems and would produce a better tool.